There is no specific "look" that all crackers share. There are as many different kinds of cracker as there are shapes of cookie. Some crackers operate in basements in eastern Germany probably dressed in suits, others may work for the NSA or a terrorist organization, while others may be well-educated middle class teenagers fascinated by computers. All crackers do have one thing in common, their desire to gain unauthorized access to a computer system with malicious intent. In other words, crackers are criminals, they break and enter. There is no "one" look for criminals either.

Steps

1

Understand that there is a difference between a hacker and a cracker. They both work with software. They find problems with computer systems. The main difference is that hackers create, while crackers exploit. Hackers do not intentionally break the law; only crackers do.

2

Watch movies featuring crackers who share your basic demographics. Copy the way they dress in the movies.

3

Read books about crackers, and copy the way they dress in the books.

4

Discover the fun and benefits of social engineering.

5

Spend as much time as possible in front of a computer. While there, you might learn programming, or try securing your own computer and breaking into that.

6

Learn to touch type. You can't look like a cracker without being able to type fast.

7

Learn the vocabulary of computer security, like "black hat", and drop those terms into your everyday speech.

8

Learn UNIX, or at least a few command line tools, and use them.

9

Install and learn Linux. Come back here when you are done and read this again.

10

Make sure you have an account on IRC and you know at least one RFC number.

11

Be familiar with the hacker's lingo like skiddie, defcon, bofs (Buffer Overflows) .

Community Q&A

If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know.

Tips

Knowing the path is not the same as walking the path. Simply looking like a cracker is not going to increase your computer skills in any area.

There is no inevitable need for illegal activities just because you are sure that your talent is in breaking into security systems (= thinking like a cracker). There are chances to find a company that would employ you to check how strong one or another security system is and to protect it from intruders. Or, if it is difficult to find a work in a big company for big money, try to enjoy implementing and improving security system in some kind of Free/Open Source software.

Consider looking or dressing in the "cyberpunk" fashion style rather than calling yourself a cracker.

If you are interested in becoming a cracker, hang out online and read books about computer security.

There is a special list of exceptional cases when some devices can be legally cracked. The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, reviews and authorizes these exemptions every three years to ensure the law does not prevent legitimate uses of copyright-protected works.[1]. If you want to be a cracker but not a criminal, you can focus on these.

Warnings

This is ONLY a guide for how to LOOK like crackers/script kiddies. Hackers are completely different. Do NOT do this and call yourself a Hacker. If you ever meet a real Hacker and he sees you doing this and calling yourself a Hacker, he will laugh.

Getting rid of your friends and not shaving are not good. You might not be able to regain these friends.

Looking like a cracker is not going to get you girls. Confidence and self-assurance will get you girls.

Under no circumstances, never send to the developer community forum questions, how to crack the software they are developing. This is unlikely to be helpful and it is not uncommon to get insulting messages back.

Remember breaking into someone else's digital device with out explicit authorisation is a serious offence.